This isn't even a namby-pamby soft power argument; it turns out that having tens of thousands of people die from a virus you can't control, wrecking your economy, and crippling your research institutions are bad for developing hard power!
Professor Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was just short of 35 y.o. when his leadership saved the Union cause on the 2nd day of fighting at Gettysburg, and I want to know if @BowdoinCollege weighed the service component in his tenure packet a little heavier than usual.
The husband of a Democrat has an impromptu meeting on a plane with an attorney general and Republicans go apoplectic.
A Republican president fires the Attorney General, the FBI Director, the U.S. Attorney and five Inspectors General investigating him and Republicans do nothing.